


Take my umbrella with you (and maybe my heart too)

by candeelite



Category: EXO (Band), f(x)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, How Do I Tag, from fever, hinted sulli/sehun, if you squint hard, jongin is a bit high, kaistal - Freeform, lapslock, lol, strangers to almost lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 19:56:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14678334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candeelite/pseuds/candeelite
Summary: jongin needed an umbrella, and perhaps an aspirin for his headache. soojung got him a first date.





	Take my umbrella with you (and maybe my heart too)

‘excuse me, are you not going to use that umbrella?’

  
soojung turned and looked up, startled at the uninvited voice from an uninvited stranger. it was raining hard and she was sitting at the second step of the stairs where it was not caught by the rain, almost bored of waiting for jinri who she felt was a little too long from only returning to their last classroom to take her earphone that she left inside her desk. jinri’s forgetfulness really nearly got into soojung’s nerves.

  
‘hello?’ the boy waved his hand in front of soojung’s face, already bending his body forward, because she only stared at him and it seemed like she was not about to give him a word anytime soon.

  
soojung blinked, ‘uh, do i know you?’

  
the boy jerked back sheepishly while scratching the back of his head, just then soojung realized that he was already soaking wet and she did not understand what an umbrella could do good for him if he was already completely drenched from head to toe, ‘well, i don’t know... you know me or not. but, i’m... kai, and i don’t think i know you... too, i guess.’

  
‘you guess.’ soojung almost scoffed. she was not a social butterfly, and she definitely did not appreciate a complete stranger who confidently asked for her one and only umbrella out of nowhere, although she honestly felt bad to hear pauses every now and then when he was talking through his chattering teeth, let alone the boy had already looked quite pale from the coldness.

  
‘but i really need that umbrella,’ jongin quickly continued, ‘if you don’t mind. i obviously don’t kow anyone here and i have to give these to my dance instructor at the performing arts building safely, like, right now.’ he said while showing a stack of paper that was amazingly still safe and dry. jongin silently studied the girl in front of him and felt her face quite familiar, but he could not recall who she was or where he had seen her. maybe one of sehun’s business student girlfriend’s friend or just some girl he had seen and flirted with on parties.

  
soojung was a business major and she didn’t quite get why on earth a dance major was strolling around her building, she actually just couldn’t care less about whatever reason jongin might tell her, but the building jongin wanted to head to was in the other side of their campus area and it’d be better not to leave without telling jinri because she would definitely freak out and a freaking out jinri was really not the coolest thing to face.

  
‘well, i don’t mind, actually. just give me a minute to text my friend that i’m going ahead.’ she said as her hand dove into her sling bag searching for her phone.

  
‘no, wait, you don’t have to come with me. i only need to borrow your umbrella to my faculty’s building and i’ll be back in, like, ten minutes.’

  
‘how can i be sure that you will be back? you might just run straight home with my umbrella and will never return it.’ soojung said casually as her thumbs were busy writing a message to jinri.

  
she looked up from her phone screen once she had poked the send button to find a pair of eyes staring at her with incredulous look.

  
‘what?’ she snapped, ‘this is my umbrella and i have the right to protect my property.’

  
jongin let out a heavy sigh, pressing fingers on his temple as he felt a wave of headache hit him and he couldn’t be sure if it was from the rain or the snarky girl in front oh him. _good thing you’re pretty_. jongin took a note in his head.

  
‘excuse me?’ soojung shrieked and jongin realized that he had probably said the words out loud.

  
‘okay. whatever. can we just go now?’ he breathed, ‘and i live in the dorm, just for your information.’

  
the rain was heavy, cold and a bit windy, but both soojung and jongin were glad that there was no thunder or lightning. it was autumn, but it was raining. and it was just a calm afternoon rain after all. the two college students walked side by side, with soojung clinging onto her umbrella, trying to get both her and jongin covered while keeping some distance from the boy because she didn’t want to get wet from jongin’s already drenched body. she had previously snatched jongin’s stack of paper that he was supposed to give to his dance instructor and shoved it into her bag because _you’re all drenched and you don’t have a bag so it’ll be safe with me_.

 

 

  
the downpour had suddenly subsided when they were passing a small lake in the middle of their campus, it only left a quiet drizzle that made mosaic effects when the sprinkles met the surface of the lake.

  
once... twice... thrice....

their shoulders kept bumping onto each other and for once, soojung stayed quiet. she somehow enjoyed the moment. walking under a shared umbrella with a stranger she just met, it wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but she enjoyed it anyway. the scent of damp soil was refreshing, and soojung unintentionally caught the scent of jongin’s fragrance. he smelled like citrus, he smelled like summer, if that was even a proper way to express how someone smelled. with his slightly tanned skin, he was just like a warm summer night. soojung almost chuckled, it was stupid.

 

 

 

‘do you want me to walk you home?’

  
jongin had met his dance instructor and he was a bit surprised when he found soojung still right where they separated, sitting on one of gazebos in front of performing arts building. he had asked her to go home after thanking her in a rush. but soojung would feel bad if she left jongin when it was still raining. she didn’t like doing things only half-way, so she thought it was not so kind to leave him walking under the rain to dorm after sharing her umbrella to his faculty’s building. no, soojung was kind.

  
‘of course.’ soojung chirped, ‘you don’t just leave a girl and make her go home alone after she shared you her umbrella, do you?’

  
jongin gaped, obviously amused by her attitude, ‘such a princess, aren’t you?’

  
soojung shrugged.

  
‘so where do you live, princess?’

soojung detached her previously crossed legs, hand fixing the strap of her bag on her right shoulder,‘dorm.’  
  
‘dorm?’ jongin furrowed his brows before he finally chuckled, realizing that the girl had totally been fooling around with him, ‘so basically we just walk ourselves home together?’

  
‘whatever you wanna call it.’ soojung smiled, swaying off the bench. she positioned herself beside jongin in one childish hop, opening her umbrella with a zap and motioning her head to jongin in a _let’s go!_ manner.

  
and for the second time that day, they walk side by side under the drizzle rain, under soojung’s transparent pink umbrella.

  
jongin managed to take the umbrella from soojung’s grip, being a gentleman that he probably was. at first, the girl refused to let it go, but jongin insisted that the umbrella kept hitting his head so it’d be better if he was the one who hold it because he was taller than soojung. she gave in with a pout and for a quite annoying girl, jongin found her adorable.

  
soojung slightly flinched when jongin’s palm accidentally grazed the back of her hand when he took the umbrella, ‘you’re warm.’ she blurted out all of a sudden.

  
jongin frowned, ‘what was that even supposed to mean? a compliment, or... do you need a hug?’ he teased.

 

soojung rolled her eyes, ‘you wish.’ she mocked, ‘it’s you. your skin’s warm. did you catch a cold?’

  
‘ah,’ jongin chuckled sheepishly, ‘i don’t know. i feel a bit delirious though. i think i’m really gonna catch a cold if we don’t hurry our steps up.’

  
‘let’s hurry up, then.’

  
‘you wanna run?’ jongin challenged.

  
‘are you crazy?’ soojung’s voice was almost too high. heck, who wanted to run in the rain when he was sick? but before she could protest, soojung was already running. a tight grip was encircling her wrist and she realized that she was being dragged by jongin, ‘what are you doing!’ _what the hell are we doing?_

  
‘running, smart girl.’ jongin shouted, sarcasm dripping down his laugh.

  
even a five year old could tell, but soojung couldn’t even scoff. the buzzing sound of the wind was distracting, the smacking sounds of their feet stomping on puddles were surprisingly pleasing. jongin even purposefully dragged soojung on some big puddles so they could splash some muddy water in each step. the umbrella in jongin’s hand was swaying in every direction, no longer covering them from the now light drizzles. jongin’s palm was hot against soojung’s wrist and his grip was a bit too strong but she didn’t complain. she would shriek and scold him every time she stumbled and almost tripped over her own feet because it was stupid and childish and her boots and pants were getting dirty, but she didn’t actually complain. she was not an everything-must-be-sterile-and-hygienic freak, after all. maybe she was just as careless, maybe she was just as reckless, as the tall guy was.

  
by the time they arrived in front of girls building, they had become wet, dirty wrecks. the drizzle was not enough to drench soojung, but her bangs were wet and stuck onto her forehead, let alone her body was all clammy from running courtesy of jongin who was now all coughing and gasping for air.

  
‘i thought you were a performer.’ soojung said after a moment.

  
‘what?’ jongin breathed. he let go of soojung’s umbrella carelessly, palms now meeting his knees.

  
‘you look more exhausted than me,’ she almost mocked, ‘aren’t you supposed to be the one stronger from all the dances and practices?’

  
‘shut up,’ jongin groaned, ‘i think i’m going to pass out.’

  
‘it cannot be that bad,’ soojung rolled her eyes, ‘come on, don’t be such a drama queen... kai.’ she hesitated for a second, realizing that it was the first time she had called the boy’s name and it felt oddly nice in her tongue.

  
jongin plopped down carelessly on the step that was dry, resting his elbows on his knees, palms supporting his head.

  
soojung sighed, crouching down beside him, ‘you’re such a wimp,’ she took a courage to reach out to jongin’s arm and immediately gasped when her skin met jongin’s, ‘gosh! you’re burning up.’

  
jongin groaned, ‘told you i was feeling delirious.’ he panted, trying to avoid soojung’s hand that was on the way to his forehead. _this girl sure likes skinship._

  
‘then why were you running in the rain if you were this ill, genius?’ soojung scolded him, ‘please, just, please don’t die on me right here this is so not funny.’

  
‘you're exaggerating. who’s being a drama queen now?’ jongin chuckled, ‘go inside. you’re going to catch a cold too. i’m going- shit!’ jongin hissed as he stood up but his head decided to give him a whirling dizziness from the sudden movement.

  
‘whoa careful!’ soojung yelled, catching jongin’s arms as he swayed forward, he might have fallen diving down the stairs if she was not fast, ‘told you not to die on me!’

  
jongin muted her, he closed his eyes for a while, waiting for the dizzying white that was taking over his vision to go away.

  
‘you okay?’ she asked, concerned on the grimace on jongin’s face.

  
jongin nodded, he let out a long sigh as his vision was back to normal, ‘yeah. i’m sorry.’

  
‘just sit down if you’re dizzy.’ she said, keeping her grips on jongin’s arm, ‘do you need me to call your friend?’

  
‘no.’ jongin said quickly, ‘i’m alright. you make me sound like a weakling.’ he protested.

  
soojung was clearly bemused. just how could being sick mean he was a weakling? ‘go to the clinic, at least. song qian should know what to do with that cold.’

  
jongin wrinkled his nose, shuddering, ‘that jiejie will just add in more headache with her nags, nah, thanks.’ he stated.

jongin remembered the first time, and he had sworn to make it his last, he visited the clinic when he sprained his ankle from stepping the wrong move when dancing, song qian wouldn’t stop nagging about him being careless because _you’re still a freshman yet you’ve managed to sprain your ankle, i hope you won’t have broken your waist by the time you graduate_ for the whole thirty minutes of his visit. jongin could swear that he would be scolded more if he came to her with a high fever from running in the rain and he just didn’t want to take the risk.

  
‘why are you so stubborn.’ soojung grumbled.

  
‘i’m just going to sleep my headache out and my dorm is just the next building. go inside.’ jongin assured her.

  
soojung looked at him sternly, not buying jongin’s words, but she knew she could not do anything. she then picked her umbrella that jongin had previously thrown away carelessly, ‘bring my umbrella, then. at least you won’t get more drenched,’ she said while passing her umbrella to the boy.

  
jongin smiled, almost chuckling. standing in front of him was the girl who had stubbornly refused to lend her umbrella because _i have the right to protect_ my _property_ but ended up giving it up for jongin for god knows how long until he could return it. but jongin held back the urge to tease her, his headache had been killing him enough and having a stupid bicker with a girl would never be on the list. he only wanted to quickly reach his dorm room and pass out in his comfortable bed until tomorrow morning, hoping today was not one of the days when sehun decided to bring his nosy girlfriend home and make out all over the place - loudly.  he muttered a quiet thank you and something snapped out of his head, ‘what’s your name?'

  
this was ridiculous. they had been through everything for a while but he didn’t even know her name.

  
soojung hesitated for a while, 'krystal. she answered.

  
jongin frowned, 'doesn’t sound korean?'

  
'so doesn’t yours.' poojung didn’t realize that her lips had formed a smirk.

  
'touché.' jongin chuckled. 'why don’t you just tell me your real name? that will be easier when i need to find you to give your umbrella back.'

  
soojung shook her head, 'no, it’s okay. you’ll find me either way. i’ll tell you my real name once you get back to me after you completely get rid of that cold, with my umbrella.'

  
jongin took a note at how soojung mentioned about his well being before her umbrella. 'are you single?' he blurted out.

  
'excuse me?' soojung almost shrieked, eyes widened in disbelief. 'are you hitting on me now?'

  
'i don’t know. i just have the feeling that our second meeting might be a date for us.' jongin snapped the umbrella back open and sneezed loudly.

  
'bless you.' soojung heaved a half mocking sigh, 'i assume it was just your fever talking. now you may go, i’m done dealing with your ridiculousness.' she turned around to make her way to her room. she hoped jinri had arrived at their shared room because she needed to tell her about this kai guy and waited for her reaction. jinri always fancied talks about interesting guys, preferably the hot, popular ones. to think that her boyfriend was one of performing arts kids, maybe she even had known this kai guy all along.

  
'i meant it, though.' jongin said, starting to walk down the stairs but he stopped before the last step and looked back up at where sojung was, 'you’re right! kai is not my real name!' he shouted and it only gave him a coughing fit which made soojung raised an eyebrow. _this guy is no joke_. 'i’ll also tell you my real name when we meet again!'

  
soojung stopped on her track and laughed. she, somehow, was not slightly offended by jongin’s sudden casualty. he seemed to be a fine guy who was just having fun playing around. 'eat some medicine, kai!' she beamed, because jongin seemed to really need some medication for either his fever or his ridiculousness, 'later!'

  
'later!' jongin shouted for the last time, voice getting hoarse, 'on our date!'

  
soojung waved her hand away and continued walking further, back facing jongin so he could not see a contented smile plastered on her lips. a date with a stranger did not sound that bad, after all.

  
_later! on our date!_

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! so about four years ago my fingers slipped and this trash happened. thank you and congratulations for surviving my short rambling. i do not particularly belong to either exo or f(x) fandom but kaistal has always been my power couple since the very beginning. this story is not my first written since i have a bunch of prompts as well as finished and ongoing drafts but i'm just this insecure and self conscious bitch so, yeah. i'm just glad i could finally find the courage to post this one. thank you so much for sacrificing your precious time to read this and i hope your read was not a painful one.  
> it sucks but this story is still my baby so once you're at it please leave kudos and a word or two in the comment section. have a good day!!


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